My first tournament goal has been achieved! I’ve submitted 5 fish to the Mo-Yak April Online Challenge! All in I have submitted 7 fish. There were 4 I didn’t submit because they were small. One darted around a stump and broke my line. And another (18″ of course) that I lost. I wasn’t prepared and put him on some fish grips that clearly did not grip the fish.
I’m getting a bit more efficient. And learning each time I go out. Some things are gear related and others are just practice. The fish that I lost was a little of both.
Each photo submitted has to have the tag for that tournament. In the pictures, it’s the “AOA”. I’ve just been writing it on my hand with Sharpie instead of using something mounted to the measuring board. I caught the 18″ and realized that I did not have the tag written on my hand. I wasn’t far from the truck so put him on the fish grips, let him go in the water and paddled back to shore to get a marker from the truck.
I get back and pull of the grips. No fish. The grips are still locked. He just plain slipped out. I was pretty bummed out and started asking around what other people were using. The answer I kept getting as “Donkey Leash”.
This works really well! I put every fish this past weekend on them and I didn’t lose a one. Having the fish in the water, securely, gives me time to get everything set to take the photo. There are a lot of things going on! Put the rod up so I don’t do something stupid like drop it in the lake (again). strap my paddle to the boat. Get the board. Get the camera ready on my phone … then get the fish placed on the board and start snapping photos.
It sounds straight forward, but it’s a lot to keep track of when you’re excited about catching fish!